Final Fantasy ~X~
by Funkadelict
Summary: My own Final Fantasy series that I'm designing, takes place in the FF7 world, about 300 years afterwards...
1. Prologue

Final Fantasy ~X~ 

Okay, I would just like to say that these characters (aside from the ones I mention from FF7) are my own. You can use them, just ask me first, okay? And I do not own any of the places…except for the ones I make up.

****

Prologue

__

Storm clouds billowed overhead as lightning streaked the sky, backlighting a large mansion on the crest of a tall hill. Far away on the horizon, yet steadily getting nearer, were the fires of war. 

A tall man stood at an open window, watching the fighting with a grim expression on his bearded face. A woman, his beloved wife, moved over to him, and placed a slender hand on his broad shoulder, the hand pale to match her face. "The barbarians are coming, aren't they, Magrin." 

Without saying a word, the man known as Magrin Tagran nodded. He gently shook her hand off of him, and turned to stare into her haunted expression, her worried eyes. "Strato is safe, at least…he is at the academy. The hordes won't attack there, not with all of those skilled warriors and the warriors-in-training there. And I want you to take our children and go there as well, Lany," he whispered at last, using the nickname which he had referred to her when they had been young lovers. Then had been a time where there were no wars, no panic…just the idealistic happiness and carefree attitude of youth. "I will stay here and give you time."

His wife brought her hand to her mouth in shock, but he silenced her protest before she even had a chance to voice it, just with a simple look. In that look was a plea, to escape, to survive. With the air of one who is prepared to face an honorable death, Magrin strode to a magnificent mahogany cabinet. He stripped off his brown jacket and flung the doors open. Inside was a bronze suit of armor—and a long, thin, sword, which gleamed in the light cast by the thunderbolts flashing outside. Quickly, Magrin donned the chestplate and gauntlets, preferring not to wear the heavy leg armor, which would slow him down significantly. 

His wife, who by now had their baby girl in her arms, and a sleepy five-year-old boy at her side, looked at Magrin, her loving husband, their doting father, as if they were trying for one final time to dissuade his suicidal plan. But he would have none of it. Plucking the weapon from its resting-place, Magrin swept it through the air in a series of complicated cuts and maneuvers. "Now, go!" he started to say, but he never got the chance…

With an ear-splitting clatter, the bedchamber door was kicked open. There, grinning malevolently and long silver hair blowing in the wind of the tempest outside, was one of the barbarians, easily identified as so by the crest on his armor chestplate. But this was not one of the ordinary foot soldiers of the armies that had invaded the country. The crimson slashes on his shoulder pads showed him to be a full general. And the gigantic sword that he held in front of him was dripping with blood—human blood.

"RUN!" bellowed Magrin, rushing towards the savage killer. He sliced his own weapon, aiming at his opponent's throat, but cut into air as the general jumped up to the ceiling, grabbing one of the crossbars that supported the roof, and using it to swing and land right in front of the other three members of Magrin's family. Lany shrieked, and both of the children began to wail loudly as the barbarian drew back his sword.

Magrin's vision clouded as tears welled up in his eyes, knowing what was to come. "NO!!!" he screamed, but it was no use. The blade whistled as it came around. The man could not bear to watch his family be killed. When again, he opened his eyes, there was a murderous rage filling him, one that he had never felt before. "YOU BASTARD!! YOU MURDERED THEM!!" 

"As I will do to you as well…prepare to join your family." The barbarian's voice was sophisticated and clipped, throwing Magrin off guard. He had not suspected to hear what he normally identified with class in this…this…killer. 

Hefting his weapon in his large hands, Magrin rushed at the barbarian, and plunged the sword into his arm, where he was not protected by armor plates. Pain flashed momentarily in the barbarian general's eyes, but it was replaced by hate. He whispered something unintelligible under his breath and a bright azure light burst from the wound. When the light had vanished, so had the deep gash. "Magic…" Magrin mumbled, astonished amidst his fury. And then the general raised his hand, sending bolts of power into his bloodied blade, which shone with an unholy light. 

"Blade Beam!" Were the only words that Magrin caught as his vicious opponent leveled his sword, and a large beam ripped from the weapon, slamming into his chest and hurling him to crash against the very cabinet where he had stored his sword.

As the armor still mounted in the wooden chest tumbled down upon him, Magrin saw the general walk over to him, and knew then that the fight had been lost. Still defiant, the bearded man raised his blood-streaked face and glared at the barbarian. "Who are you?" he coughed up red liquid.

The general paused and smirked, his hair whipping across his face. "You may know me as Kyaro, general of our mighty forces…" 

And once more, the sword cut through the air. 


	2. Chapter 1

Final Fantasy ~X~

Disclaimer: See the prologue, I own my characters, and that is it. Oh, and Kyaro is NOT the guy from Suikoden, I've never played that game. Anyway, on with the story!

****

Part One

Strato Tagran bolted upright in the small cot he was using in the resistance, cold sweat moistening his forehead and matting down his normally spiky, pure white, hair. That dream again…his family getting killed… "Stop that, Strato!" he muttered to himself. "Dreamin' about them won't bring them back to life…or save your country from the barbarians…get a hold on yourself!"

He groaned as he glanced at the clock beside him. Breakfast for their group was in little more than a half-hour…he needed to get ready. Strato tossed the thin sheets—even though it was excruciatingly cold outside, the small band could not afford much—back and swung his legs out of bed. He stood up and stretched, his left bicep sore from the duel yesterday with some raiders.

About a quarter of an hour later, Strato walked out of the small shower adjacent to the quarters that he shared with the large Grik Chorovich, a towel wrapped securely around his waist. He bent over and pulled his black combat outfit from the small table at his bedside. Strato had just finished pulling his shirt on when someone spoke from the doorway. "Ahem."

Strato whirled around to see a small girl standing in the entrance to his quarters. She looked fairly young, Strato would have placed her around 18 or 17, and she wore a red, well-worn, pilot's jacket over a black jumpsuit. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to notice me standing here, Strato."

"How long have you been there?" Strato felt his face going red. He had just been changing! "And I'm sorry, I…don't exactly remember your name…"

The girl giggled. "Long enough…and that's okay. I $*(&ing suck with names too…I'm Cyria Highwind!" She offered her hand to the beet-red Strato.

Strato accepted her hand and shook it. "Highwind? Are you by any chance descended from Cid Highwind?" And that name seemed very familiar to him for some reason as well.

Cyria nodded. "He was my great-great-great-great-grandfather…or something like that. I dunno…come on, we're already eating!" She turned and walked out of the room. Strato followed closely behind. 

****

When Strato and Cyria arrived, there were two others seated in the makeshift kitchen that their cell of the resistance had haphazardly slapped together, and they were as unalike as possible. One, Strato's room-mate—Grik Chorovich—was incredibly huge, towering over the others at a height of 6'9", or 202.5 cm. Grik was a quiet man, very shy and inward when it came to his thoughts. He had a thick mane of scruffy black hair, and both a mustache and a beard. The strongest in the group, Grik preferred to fight using brute strength, capable of smashing almost anything with his gigantic mace. He frequently and adamantly stated how he did not like the cold, which is why he was wearing thick clothing, with a fur vest over his jacket.

On the other side of the table, Zun Kos was Grik's exact opposite. No one knew how this had happened, but Zun was a puppet who had been animated, freed of his marionette's strings. Being a puppet, he naturally was quite small, only 3', or 90 cm, tall. He was totally bald, but then again, his scalp WAS made of wood. Zun was the loudest in the group, very boisterous, and Strato preferred Grik's silence to Zun's talking, shouting, or ranting about whatever he cared to speak about at the time. Strato had to admit however, when it came to fights, Zun was one of the craftiest people he knew, attacking with his axe using pure finesse and strategy. And also, since he was made of wood, the marionette hated fire, and didn't hesitate to make that known…which is what he did with most other things, though.

Strato poured himself a cup of herbal tea from the pot on the stove and walked over to where Zun and Grik were sitting. "Good morning." Cyria sat down next to him.

"Mornin'…" Grik mumbled, then took a bite from the sandwich he had made. Strato thought that eating a sandwich for breakfast was rather odd, but he didn't mention it to the larger man.

Zun didn't need to eat, he just leaned back in the chair. "Heya! How are you guys doing?"

"I'm fine." Both Cyria and Strato said at the same time. Strato took a sip of his tea, and made a face. It was ice cold.

Grik swallowed the last bite of his sandwich. "The stove's burner isn't working, shoulda' told you sooner, I guess."

"Yes, that would have !@%^ing helped…" Cyria said sarcastically, after having her own encounter with the frozen tea. "Oh, sorry about that…" she blushed. "I'm a bit irritable in the mornings occasionally…"

Zun chuckled, a high-pitched, wheezing sound. "We noticed!" He was rewarded by a light smack on the back of the head from Cyria. "Ow, what'd you do that for!" he complained, rubbing the oak surface.

A whisper of fabric sounded as a woman in a blue dress entered the room. She flashed a quick smile at the group as she poured herself a cup of tea and sat down. That was Shu, the resident strategist and as close a thing to a leader as they had. Although aside from Zun, she was the shortest in the group, she was an expert in the martial arts, and a master at stealth techniques. She wasn't too bad with magic, either. Shu had a strange silver pendant around her neck, with a sapphire amulet. None of them had asked what it was for, and if they had, they doubted even she knew. "Good morning…" she said brightly. Her cheery mood vanished, however, when she took a sip of tea. "Ugh!" she said, looking at her mug like it was a poisonous snake. "What's wrong with this tea?"

"The #%$!ing stove burner isn't working…" Cyria said apologetically. "Sorry."

"Hey you guys!" Zun said, still rubbing the area where Cyria had smacked him, as the final two members of their group sat down at the round table.

Cid Rollins twirled one of his energy pistols around on his index finger. "Hello." Cid was clearly a fan of the color black. Every single item of clothing he wore was that color, his shirt, his pants, his belt, his boots, even the trench coat that he wore over the whole ensemble! And then there was his flattened cowboy hat…that, true to form, was also colored black. Strato knew Cid from the academy where he had studied to be a warrior. Cid, although not a registered student, had been a frequent sight at the gun range, and spent virtually his entire time there—for good reason, he was the best shot that Strato had ever seen. He was armed with two energy pistols that packed a punch, and was the group's sniper.

The final member to the little band of freedom fighters was Strato's best friend since he had been a young child, Stise Creski. "G'Morning, Strato, everyone," he yawned. Strato still held a miniature grudge against his friend, for being accepted into the elite academy a few months previously to Strato himself. He deserved it, however. Stise was probably the most powerful warrior when it came to Ice magic on the planet! And his skills with his weapon of choice, a large broadsword, were to be envied as well. 

Stise sipped his tea, and then sprayed it out of his mouth again. "Agh! Watch it!" Grik rumbled. "The stove burner's broken…" he said, before Stise could even ask what was the matter with the tea. Cid just laughed.

Several minutes later, the gang had finished their meager breakfast, and Shu rose to her feet. "Okay, let's get down to business. We have two targets to attack today." The group shifted almost imperceptibly from their happy-go-lucky 'breakfast easy mode' to 'serious mode'. 

The diminutive woman spread out a map on the table everyone was sitting at. She marked a spot on the map with a pencil. "This is where we are." Then she brought the pencil down a bit to an island in the middle of a lake. "There is an Empire Power Plant here…it serves one of their armories," Shu pointed to yet another locale. "Which is located here." She traced a heavy black line from where she had identified the armory to an endpoint in the mountains. "And this is a supply route to the armory, it uses a train."

Shu rolled up the map. "We are going to eventually make a run on the armory, but right now the defenses are too great for us to possibly overcome. So we are going to break into teams, and simultaneously hit both the supply line and the power plant. After that, we will rendezvous in our secret munitions dump—Cid, Grik, and Cyria, you know where that is—to attack the armory itself." Apparently subconsciously, Shu fingered the deep blue amulet around her neck. "The teams are as follows: Cyria, Strato, and Cid, you take out the supply line—and see if you guys can't grab a thing or two, we could use some extra items and replacement parts—while Grik, Stise, Zun, and myself hit the power plant. Are there any questions?" 

"I have one…" Strato said, and Shu turned to him. "What are the defenses like on the places we're gonna attack?" 

"Oh, don't worry!" Shu waved a hand nonchalantly. "There may be a few guards, but nothing you should have any trouble with…" 

Strato muttered under his breath, "I have a bad feeling about this…"

*****

"That's it?" Cyria looked through a pair of binoculars at the simple railroad track that was the basis of the supply route. "That's what we have to take out?" Cid nodded, and she smirked. "This'll be too goddamn easy!"

Cid pulled out his high-tech pistols and checked to make sure the energy level was full. "I wish you wouldn't say that…" he said while adjusting the sight, not even looking at the girl. "It gives me a nervous feeling."

Strato was silent, testing the balance of his two longswords. He was an expert fighting with two weapons, but something could always go wrong, and he was ensuring that it didn't. "When's the train going to get here?" He asked at last, impatient.

"Whoa, calm down…" Cid said, glancing at his chronometer. "We have about five minutes…let's set the explosives!"

The older man walked out of the brush they had been hiding in and calmly strode to the tracks as if he had all the time in the world. Cyria and Strato watched for Empire forces while Cid pulled some plastique out from under his long trenchcoat and affixed it to the track. "Okay, done! Let's get out of here!"

The trio sprinted away, and were barely back under cover of the trees when the track erupted in flame. The shockwave hurled them all to the ground. With the fluid motion of true warriors, they rolled and ended up on their feet. Cid drew his pistols and crouched down as the train appeared in the distance. "D'you think they'll see the explosion?" Strato asked. If the engineer on the train had indeed seen the blast—and how could he have not?—than the train would stop before jumping the rails. 

"Yes, in fact, I'm counting on it…" Cid hissed through clenched teeth, concentrating on the task at hand.

Cyria understood what he was planning. "Yeah, Shu told us to try and steal some stuff from them, how would we do that if the $%(*ing train was destroyed?" A knife seemingly materialized in her fist, but Strato knew she had gotten it from one of her many holsters, with her lightning speed.

Catching on, Strato started to grin. "Now now, stealing is such a harsh term! I prefer…borrowing for an indefinite period of time!" Cyria chuckled and Cid snorted with barely restrained laughter.

The train operator apparently had indeed seen the explosion, and the screeching as the train attempted to halt before the breach. Strato didn't know who he considered luckier, those on the train for avoiding certain death, or the three for accomplishing their goal. 

Cid took careful aim, resting his gun hand on his other arm. He brushed the trigger, and a bright green light spat from the muzzle, burning a hole through the cab window of the train, and into the brain of the operator, who slumped over the controls, dead. Cyria whistled through her teeth at Cid's accuracy. "Damn nice shot…" 

"C'mon!" Strato leapt to his feet and was running to the halted supply vehicle in a blink of an eye, Cyria right behind him, and Cid bringing up the rear. But the trio stopped short as the doors slid silently open. And then, not so silently, barbarian guards started to emerge. One raised his battle-axe high above his head and charged for Strato, who felt his feet rooted to the spot. But a well-aimed Ninja Star from Cyria ended his rush.

Cid opened fire with both barrels, and many of the guards either dove for cover or hit the ground, bloodied. Meanwhile, Cyria and Strato charged into the oncoming throng. Strato sliced open one guard's neck, only to be pushed on the defense by another eager to avenge the death of his buddy. Using both of his swords, Strato parried the blow, and then an aura of fire surrounded him. "Flame!" He cried, using one of the magic attacks he had learned at the academy. His opponent fell to the ground, and burned to a charred skeleton. But Strato had no time to pause before another was on him…but this one fell backwards, one of Cyria's knife handles protruding from his back. "Thanks…" Strato breathed.

"No problem!" the girl winked before ferociously attacking another of the Empire Soldiers. "!&*# it! DIE you !@#%&%@#**ing BASTARD!" 

A few minutes later, the battle was all over. Cid blew on his gun barrels to cool them down, and flipped them into his holsters. Strato leaned, panting, on his swords. "Well, shall we go in?" Cyria asked, looking at the two men.

They climbed through one of the doors, into a gigantic car filled with crates. Using a sword as a prybar, Strato opened one and gasped. "Hey guys! Look at this…" Dozens of Materia crystals had spilled out onto the floor. 

Cid opened a pouch that he had been carrying. "Quickly! Put as many as you can into here!" But it was then that every single door slid shut. "What?"

"I don't like this, you guys…" Strato drew his swords again.

"Join the club!" Cyria shot back. And then the lights flipped on, revealing a huge, half-robot, barbarian guard, who stared down at them with mean, beady, black eyes. "Uh-oh…"

****

BOSS BATTLE WITH…CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD!

The Captain grunted something unintelligible, and the room started to fill with an eerie emerald light. "Storm of Destiny!" Came the guttural roar, and Strato, Cyria, and Cid were all thrown backwards. Cid flipped in midair so that he hit the wall feet-first, and started to run across it, drawing his guns as he sprinted. Leaping off, Cid brought the weapons up and let loose a hail of bright green spears. The energy stabbed deep into the Captain, who stumbled backwards. 

"My turn!" Cyria shouted, picking herself from the ground. "He can cast magic, well, so can I! Summon Quetzalcoatl!" She raised her hands, and outside, suddenly, the sounds of a thunderstorm were heard. An enormous lightning bolt slammed through the roof of the train, and a huge yellowish bird with red plumage appeared. Quetzalcoatl flapped his wings and arched his back. He screeched, and shot a stream of electricity into the Captain's chest. Then, his job done, the bird vanished.

Before Strato could do anything, the Captain recovered from the two assaults and brought a gigantic steel hand around, crashing into Cyria and sending her reeling. Strato caught her, and the two tumbled into a crate.

Cid threw a glance at his two comrades, and then raised his guns again. He emptied both of them into the Captain's steel armor, and was rewarded with a hissing as the power ate through. The Captain flashed brightly and exploded.

"Nice one, Cid!" Strato congratulated, getting up.

Cid nodded. "Thanks…now that we're done here, let's go meet up with the others..." he shivered. "I don't like this place much for some reason."

"Yeah, lets…" Cyria looked around. "We found some materia, anyway, I think we can use that…"

Strato sliced one of the doors open and kicked the other half out of its position. "Yeah, we can. Now we just have to hope that our friends were as lucky, and then we get to go do something that's twice as suicidal! What fun!"

TBC….

So what do you guys think? Always R/R!


	3. Chapter 2

Final Fantasy ~X~

Disclaimer: See prologue and part one, do ya really think I'm gonna write all that again?

****

Part Two

Grik Chorovich grunted as he brought his massive weapon around to slam into the opposing guard's torso. There was a series of sickening crunches as the heavy, spiked ball at the end of the steel chain tore through flesh, muscle, and bone. What it couldn't slice with the spikes, it simply mashed into tiny pieces. The guard dropped without a sound.

"Any idea where these guys came from?" Stise Creski panted, slashing at another with the broadsword he held. Pinning his enemy's blade against the wall, Stise kicked him in the stomach, and then brought the sword around for a clean, decapitating blow. He had no time to exult over his triumph, however, as three more guards leapt into the air, swords at the ready. 

Another of the barbarian sentries, this one wielding a pike, rushed at the small Zun Kos. Zun narrowly dodged to the side of the deadly shaft, and brought his axe down, cleaving it in two. "How should I know?" He yelled back. "They popped out of no where!" He swung the battle-axe at the barbarian, but the man blocked it with the steel handle of what was formerly his weapon. Sparks flew as time after time the axe met the rod. "I'm getting tired of this…" Zun muttered, and hurled his axe into the sky. He used his small size to his advantage, slipping between the guard's legs. Before the guard could react, Zun plucked the axe from the sky and brought it down between the guard's shoulderblades.

The fourth member in the party, Shu, dealt with her assailant in a different way. He lunged at the small woman, scimitar gleaming wickedly, but each time, she wasn't there. Like Zun, Shu was using her small size and speed to her advantage. The guard was exerting all of his might attempting to hit her, while she had barely broken a sweat. Eventually, the guard collapsed, exhausted. Her foe helpless, Shu placed a foot on his neck and pressed. Bone crunched, and the guard's chest stopped rising and falling.

Stise dispatched the last of his enemies with one mighty slice, and stood up. "Any that we missed?" 

Shu shook her head, and opened her mouth to respond, but a rumble, like a distant thunderclap, split the air, accompanied by the appearance of a small pillar of fire a few miles away. "I'm guessing that would be Cyria, Cid, and Strato…" the petite yet strong martial artist said.

"Probably…" shrugged Grik, resting the handle of his mace on his shoulder. "Let's hit the power plant and leave…"

Zun started to jog to the large structure ahead. "Good idea, big guy! Let's go!"

"Wait!" Stise called, looking around. "Are there any other guards? We don't want to have to deal with fighting for our lives after we've set the bombs—at least, I don't." 

Brushing her black hair from her face, Shu began to follow Zun. "There shouldn't be any more. This power plant isn't exactly that important, it was here before the takeover."

Stise groaned inwardly. "Why is it whenever anyone says something like that I get a bad feeling inside?" he muttered silently.

***

"Okay, are you sure you know how to do this?" Shu inquired of the puppet that had been brought to life by some sort of sorcery. 

Zun Kos was annoyed. "Yes, I'm sure! Now don't distract me!" He fiddled with several wires at the base of the generator. "Now, this is the feedback regulator," he explained to the rest of the quartet. "It ensures that a power surge won't destroy anything. However, if I splice the wires so that it bypasses the regulator, a large increase in power would spark a chain reaction that pretty well would level the entire plant!"

"So how do we get the power surge?" Stise absentmindedly ran his hand over the blade of his broadsword.

Grik had the answer, as he usually did. The big man, although incredibly bright, preferred not to speak that much. But this time he did. "Bolt or some other weak lightning spell."

The puppet nodded. "Right! We don't want too much, or it'll blow before we can get out. So a low level Bolt to the generator should do the trick!" Finished, he stood up to admire his handiwork. "There! Now, Stise, since you're the new guy, I'll let you cast Bolt for us." Shu cleared her throat, as to remind Zun that she was the leader, and should make that choice, but Zun didn't hear her.

"All right…" Stise raised his hand. "Bo—!" 

An enormous bird swooped down from the ceiling and grabbed Stise in its talons. "What the hell?" Shu growled.

****

BOSS BATTLE WITH…AVIO!

The young man struggled with the gigantic as well as hideous bird. "Let go of me you freak of nature!" Stise shouted, whipping his sword around and slicing deep into the claw holding him. Avio screeched in pain and dropped the blond man down to the floor. He rolled to his feet and then groaned as the pain of impact rolled over him like a steamroller. "That one hurt…"

Shu threw a glance at her injured comrade, but then ducked with everyone else as Avio flew directly overhead, venom in its eyes. "I think you made it mad, Stise…" The creature opened its mouth and sprayed shards of ice out at the party.

"Hit the deck!" cried Zun, throwing himself to the ground. Stise and Grik followed suit, but Shu was hit by the full force of the blast. She fell her knees, wincing, cuts and gashes covering much of her body. 

"I'll be okay…" Shu reassured while climbing back to her feet, her black eyes blazing with fire at Avio. "But Tweety over there should be punished," Avio was looping around for another attack, diving lower. "Grik! Give me a boost!" 

The largest in the small band that they had assembled, Grik clasped his hands together and allowed Shu to stand in them. It was almost as if it required none of his massive strength to support her. "Ready…now!" Shu commanded, and Grik catapulted her into the air. The martial arts expert gracefully flipped and brought a booted heel to smash right into Avio's eyes.

Squawking with fury, Avio bashed Shu right back to the ground again with its muscular wing. She rebounded off the floor and crashed into a pile of crates. "Shu!" Stise cried. "Okay, that's it! Let's get this thing!" No one noticed the sapphire amulet that the woman wore around her neck starting to glow with energy…

"Take that!" Zun yelled, chucking one of his tomahawks at Avio. The primitive yet effective weapon spun around, the blade slicing through feathered flesh.

The bird attempted to retaliate against Zun for the injury, but Grik wouldn't allow any such creature to attack his friend and partner. His mace whistled through the air as he slammed it into Avio…but the bird withstood it, easily. There was a flash of light, and Grik was hurled back into a wall. He slid to the ground, injured but awake.

"Okay, that's it! Crimson Blade!" rumbled Stise, and his broadsword crackled with power as he cast magic that augmented his attack strength. "HYA!!" he bellowed, sweeping the sword around, a crescent of scarlet energy knocking into Avio—yet the bird was merely angrier, and didn't seem to be affected at all.

Stise, shocked by his attack's ineffectiveness, was even more startled to see Shu climb to her feet. "Shu…your amulet…" he stammered, but she paid it no heed.

"You worthless little creature…one of Kyaro's genetic failures, I suspect…probably best to put you out of your misery…" She leapt into the air, a kick aimed at Avio's forehead, but the bird was ready for her.

It met Shu's attack with a blur of motion as it scraped into her flesh multiple times with razor-sharp talons…however, it did not seem to be doing any damage, and her amulet was shimmering ever brighter. 

"Sunburst!" she shouted, leaping into the air. Her amulet started to project azure energy, wrapping around her like a blanket. Her legs together, she levitated herself off the ground, and began to spin. A virtual tornado of power, Shu abruptly halted her spin, and glared malevolently at Avio. Her leg came up in a powerful kick, and power exploded as she connected. A bright flash filled the room, and everything seemed to freeze in time…until it all collapsed back in on itself.

***

Stise cradled the unconscious Shu in his arms. "Wow…a Limit Break…I only saw a few of those at the academy, and those were some of the best warriors on the planet. Shu must…wow…" he was speechless. 

"Come on," Grik grumbled. "We're gonna blow this place…I'll carry her, if you want." He offered.

"Nah, it's okay, I'll carry her." Stise said. "She's not that heavy." Was it his imagination, or was there a knowing smirk on Grik's bearded face? Why would there be one, anyway? What could the big man possibly be thinking?

The three of them, Zun, Grik, and Stise with the exhausted Shu in his arms, walked away from the power plant as it burst into flames behind them. "Now we go meet up with Cyria, Cid, and Strato, and hit that armory!" The puppet shouted. 

"Yeah…let's actually show the barbarian Empire that we can hit hard instead of just being mildly annoying…" Stise muttered. Grik just grunted, and the other two chuckled at that entirely TOO in-character remark. 

***

"What kept you guys?" Strato was lying on the ground, resting his back against a tree. Shu now awake and able to walk by herself, the four other members in the resistance paraded triumphantly into a small clearing in the forest.

"We've been waiting for a long time…" Cid added from his perch on a large boulder.

Cyria stood up straight as she saw the clearly tired Shu. "And what the *#$& happened to her?"

The smaller woman looked at Cyria and smiled wanly. "We had a run-in with one of the monsters that Kyaro created…Avio. I blacked out during the battle, I don't know what happened to cause that, though."

Strato's friend Stise looked approvingly at Shu. "She doesn't remember, but she did a Limit Break to beat that bird thing," the other three were astonished, they knew of the rarity of Limits. "And we think it exhausted her. She passed out, we set the charge—literally—and we got out of there."

"Yeah! It was awesome!" Zun was practically jumping up and down in excitement, the adrenaline…well, whatever passed for adrenaline in his wooden body…rush still having an effect.

Shu steadied herself on Grik's massive arm. "I'll be fine, let's get back to business. We took out the power plant, I'm assuming that you got the supply line?"

Cyria nodded. "Yep, we took it out…we messed with a Captain of the Guard, but Cid took it out, no problem." Cid tipped the brim of his hat and smiled. "And Strato here found some Materia crystals."

"Really? Materia?" Stise asked. "Let's see them, then!"

Strato reached into his pouch, and then his face fell. "What? There's only one left…The others must have fallen out during the battle with Captain!" The white-haired young man pulled out a luminescent white orb. "This is the only one that's left…" he said. Without warning, bolts of power shot from the crystal into Strato's body. He convulsed and fell to the ground.

****

*~ STRATO learned: GF Bolerafone ~*

"Strato! Are you all right?" Stise ran to his friend, who was lying on the forest floor.

Strato sat upright, his hand on his forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine…but my head is all tingly and stuff…" His eyes wandered to the Materia crystal still clenched in his hand. "Wow…I got a new GF…"

"How do you know?" Grik rumbled.

The younger man shrugged, an odd look on his face. "I don't know how I know…I just…know." 

Cyria examined the crystal closely. "Well, this &*!^ing thing is now useless…oh well, at least ONE of us has it equipped, whatever it is."

"Right," Shu nodded. "But we don't have much time, they will have auxiliary generators for the armory up soon…we need to take it out before they do! Come on, everybody, let's go!"

Cyria extended a hand to Strato, who pulled himself to his feet. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it…" Cyria jogged after Shu, the rest of the group close behind.

***

The party cautiously crept down a dark and narrow corridor. "This is too easy, we're gonna all die!" Now that Zun Kos's 'adrenaline' rush had passed, paranoia had set in.

"Oh, will you shut up already?" Stise snapped. "We AREN'T going to die! The power is off, and nobody knows we're here!" 

They had infiltrated the armory with remarkable ease. The automated turrets had all been without power, and when they smashed in the doorway, no alarms sounded, no guards came to combat them. It was, as Zun had said, almost TOO easy. And even though neither Stise nor any of the others wanted to admit it, they were feeling the same things as the marionette. 

Those hunches, those feelings, were soon to be proven right. With an earsplitting "CRASH!" an iron door slammed to the floor behind them. Through the ringing in his ears, Strato heard Cyria swear. And then, as he saw who was walking around the corner, he reached to his back and unsheathed his swords, bringing them to fighting position.

The man that Strato and the others had seen was fairly tall, although by no means was he anywhere near Grik's size. At first glance, Strato thought the man's head was on fire, but when he looked closer, he saw that it was flaming red hair with orange highlights, spiked up in front and hanging down in the back. He wore a cold smirk on his face, and green eyes danced with a sadistic delight. And in his hands, he held a large, wicked-looking machine gun. "Well, well, well…Time for us to play!"

TBC…

I have two VERY nice pictures of two of the characters in my story, done by DA MAN, Boss Reo, who was kind enough to draw them for me. And they're REALLY good, too! 

So muchas gracias to Boss Reo, and enjoy the piccys of Strato and Stise!


End file.
